The magnanimous ally painted at Petersburg, 1799. [graphic]

"Paul I, caricatured, stands full-face, his head turned in profile to the left, and looking up, arrogant and mean. He wears uniform with a star, two Crosses of the Order of the Knights of St. John, and a ribbon. (He had been elected Grand Master in Oct. 1798 by the Knights, exiled from Malta, who had sought refuge in Russia.) He wears a sash over his coat, the tails of which reach, beetle-like, to his heels. Under his right arm is a huge fringed cocked hat, in his gauntleted left hand he holds a walking-stick. He tramples on a tattered flag inscribed 'Vive l'Egalité'. A low horizon and clouds form a background. Near the upper margin is a Russian P enclosing I: symbol for Paul I."--British Museum online catalogue